Friendship Day (Arabic: اليوم الدولي للصداقة‎‎, Chinese: 国际友谊日, French: Journée internationale de l’amitié, Russian: Международный день дружбы, Spanish: Día del Amigo) is a day for celebrating friendship. The day has been celebrated in several southern South American countries for many years, particularly in Paraguay, where the first World Friendship Day - International Friendship Day was proposed in 1958.

Initially created by the greeting card industry, evidence from social networking sites shows a revival of interest in the holiday that may have grown with the spread of the Internet, particularly in India, Bangladesh, and Malaysia. Digital communication modes such as the Internet and mobile phones may be helping to popularize the custom, since greeting friends en masse is now easier than before. Those who promote the holiday in South Asia attribute the tradition of dedicating a day in honor of friends to have originated in the U.S. in 1935, but it actually dates from 1919. The exchange of Friendship Day gifts like flowers, cards and wrist bands is a popular tradition of this occasion.[1][2]

Friendship Day celebrations occur on different dates in different countries. The first World Friendship Day was proposed for 30 July in 1958, by the World Friendship Crusade.[3] On 27 April 2011 the General Assembly of the United Nations declared[4] 30 July as official International Friendship Day. However, some countries, including India,[5] celebrate Friendship Day on the first Sunday of August. In Oberlin, Ohio, Friendship Day is celebrated on 8 April each year.[6]

Contents

Friendship Day was originated by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards in 1930, intended to be 2 August and a day when people celebrated their friendships by holiday celebrations. Friendship Day was promoted by the greeting card National Association during the 1920s but met with consumer resistance - given that it was too obviously a commercial gimmick to promote greetings cards. By the 1940s the number of Friendship Day cards available in the US had dwindled and the holiday largely died out there. There is no evidence to date for its uptake in Europe; however, it has been kept alive and revitalised in Asia, where several countries have adopted it.

In honor of Friendship Day in 1998, Nane Annan, wife of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, named Winnie the Pooh as the world's Ambassador of Friendship at the United Nations. The event was co-sponsored by the U.N. Department of Public Information and Disney Enterprises, and was co-hosted by Kathy Lee Gifford.

Some friends acknowledge each other with exchanges of gifts and cards on this day. Friendship bands are very popular in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and parts of South America.[1] With the advent of social networking sites, Friendship Day is also being celebrated online.[2] The commercialization of the Friendship Day celebrations has led to some dismissing it as a "marketing gimmick". But nowadays it is celebrated on the first Sunday of August rather than 30 July. However, on 27 July 2011 the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 30 July as "International Day of Friendship".[7]

The idea of a World Friendship Day was first proposed on 20 July 1958 by Dr. Ramon Artemio Bracho during a dinner with friends in Puerto Pinasco, a town on the River Paraguay about 200 miles north of Asuncion, Paraguay.[8]

Out of this humble meeting of friends, the World Friendship Crusade was born. The World Friendship Crusade is a foundation that promotes friendship and fellowship among all human beings, regardless of race, color or religion. Since then, 30 July has been faithfully celebrated as Friendship Day in Paraguay every year and has also been adopted by several other countries.[9]

The World Friendship Crusade has lobbied the United Nations for many years to recognise 30 July as World Friendship Day and finally on 20 May, General Assembly of the United Nations decided to designate 30 July as the International Day of Friendship; and to invite all Member States to observe the International Day of Friendship in accordance with the culture and customs of their local, national and regional communities, including through education and public awareness-raising activities.[7] Is also known as Shru and Sanjya day.

World Friendship Day is a celebrated on June 30 in the United States in pockets of Massachusetts, Ohio, and occasionally New Hampshire. The holiday is often observed on the prior Saturday. As the name suggests, the primary focus is celebrating friendships, old and new.

In Argentina, Friend's Day, on July 20, is an excuse for a friendly gathering and greeting both current and old friends. Since it is not an Argentine public holiday, people tend to gather during the evening.

Friend's Day has in recent years turned into a very popular mass phenomenon. In 2005, the amount of well-wishing friends led breakdown of the mobile phone network in the cities of Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Córdoba and Rosario, comparable to the one experienced in 2004 on Christmas and New Year's Day. Seats in most restaurants, bars, and other establishments are often completely booked a week before the celebration.

Since the death of the Argentine cartoonist and writer Roberto Fontanarrosa in 2007, a proposal has existed to change the date to July 19, the day of his death.[10][11]

In Paraguay, the eve of July 30 is used for giving presents to close friends and loved ones, and celebrations are a common sight in bars and nightclubs. The game of the Invisible Friend (Amigo Invisible) is considered a tradition, in which small sheets of paper with names are given to all members of a group, each of them secretly selects one, and on July 30 gives a present to the person on the paper. This custom is practiced in both schools and workplaces in Asunción and other Paraguayan cities.

Since 2009, Peru celebrates "El dia del Amigo" on the first Saturday in July. This day was proposed by Pilsen Callao. The objective was to recognize true friendship and differentiate its celebration from Valentine's Day.

Schmidt, E.L. (1991). "The Commercialisation of the Calendar: American Holidays and the Culture of Consumption, 1870-1930". The Journal of American History. 78 (. 3): 887–916. [UN Resolution A/65/L.72]